Who loves America – Obama or Giuliani?

Rudy Giuliani says President Barack Obama does not love America. That’s right, the former New York mayor and failed presidential candidate told a group of fellow Republicans that he could definitively speak for the President; that indeed he could read the Mr. Obama’s mind.

Giuliani has no way of knowing how President Obama was brought up. Nor can he know who or what Obama loves. Giuliani’s outburst was just one more in the long line of asinine things he has said over the years.

“I know this is a horrible thing to say,” he said at a Manhattan fundraiser for Republican presidential hopeful Scott Walker, “but I do not believe that the President loves America. He doesn’t love you. And he doesn’t love me. He wasn’t brought up the way you were brought up and I was brought up through love of this country.”

Of course, Giuliani has no way of knowing how President Obama was brought up. Nor can he know who or what Obama loves. But his outburst was no surprise. It was just one more in the long line of asinine things Giuliani has said over the years. Even more ridiculous was his response when he was called on the implicit racism in his statement.

‘I’m not racist. Obama’s mom was white’

“Some people thought it was racist,” Giuliani said in an interview with the New York Times. “I thought that was a joke, since he was brought up by a white mother, a white grandfather, went to white schools, and most of this he learned from white people. This isn’t racism…”

Yeah, like racists don’t bother people when they know they’re only half black.

As ridiculous as Giuliani’s reasoning is, none of it should surprise us. In fact, Giuliani’s history should lead us to expect such tomfoolery.

As ridiculous as Giuliani’s reasoning is, none of it should surprise us. In fact, Giuliani’s history should lead us to expect such tomfoolery.

Remember the mean-spirited and racist rant in which he blamed black people for being killed by white police officers? You don’t? Well allow me to refresh your memory.

“The white police officers wouldn’t be there if you weren’t killing each other.”

During the ensuing 2-minutes of back-and-forth, Giuliani said that 93 percent of murders of blacks are committed by other blacks, thereby implying that blacks have much more to fear from other blacks than we do from white police officers. Of course, Giuliani never mentioned the flip side of his argument—that 84 percent of murders of whites are committed by other whites.

In other words, people–no matter their race–kill people who are close to them, who live in the same communities, who look like them. But Giuliani, as is often the case, didn’t tell the whole truth. And in the words of my mother—a half-truth is a whole lie.

Giuliani is not being honest

Lying is not love. But telling the truth is, and like it or not, that’s what President Obama has done. He’s told uncomfortable truths about America, about religion, about ourselves. He’s told us that before we look down on ISIS for their barbarity, we need to check our own history of terror. He’s told us that we are not fighting a war on Islam, but we are fighting a war against men. He’s told us that it’s wrong to blame innocent children for the actions of their parents. He’s told us that our country is far from perfect.

From where I sit those are truths, and as uncomfortable as they might make us, they nevertheless remain true.

When you love someone, you tell the truth, and you hope that on the other side of the pain, they will find comfort, they will find healing, and they will find the strength to change.

Solomon Jones is an Essence bestselling author and award-winning columnist. He is the creator and editor of Solomonjones.com and morning host on 900 am WURD radio. Click here to learn more about Solomon.